The Streak
by KarToon12
Summary: One-Shot: Professor Sumdac contemplates the white streak in his hair, and the lie it represents.


He would never forget that fateful day; the day the rather…unconventional birth of his daughter turned his world on his head.

"Unconventional", in that he was a scientist, and his "daughter", if you would, a being hailing from the heavens of outer space; a body of liquid metal that, through one touch of curiosity, brought her to life.

Of course, that left many questions unanswered for years (which would later be solved by a quintet of Autobots). But even so, a person of Professor Sumdac's relatively-sound mind would simply want to forget the when's and the where's and the how's of the incident; choosing to merely accept the precious gift he was given and love it with all his heart, and he tried to DO just that…

…but there was that nagging, constant reminder…and he had to look at it everyday when he got up in the morning…

Turns out, his touch of life had cost him as much as it had given him, and one of those things was a lock of his hair-hair that got turned white in an instant with the electrical shock that came as a price for his curious prodding. When he finally got a look at himself after the accident, he merely shrugged off the streak of white amongst the forest of jet black strands.

…at first, anyway…

_"Daddy, where do babies come from?"  
"Daddy, what happened to my Mom?"  
"Dad, why do you look older than you should?"_

The red hair and amber eyes was something he could never figure, but if there was one thing of his that Sari inherited, it was his undying curiosity of everything in the world. Somewhere, in his subconscious, he knew the questions would come…he just never anticipated how early.

…and more and more, day by day, that streak started to become a nuisance…

He need only look at either his hair problem or his daughter and be reminded of the dangers of what could happen should she learn the truth…especially considering that he wouldn't have any plausible answers to give her. So, he did the only thing he could do; he shut the rest of the world out. He hid away the problems-kept her from the danger-kept her protected. At the time, it seemed only logical. No world except the one she knows means no more questions the tutor-bot can't answer, right?

Wrong.

Dead wrong. And it was only until it was too late that he realized his mistake. Not only did the unanswerable questions increase ten-fold, but he should've noticed it right off that he himself was a walking danger-the danger of the truth unraveling…and he had the mark that could undo the first knot.

The streak. That damn white streak. Doesn't matter what dye you use, it's still there. And it eventually comes back to haunt again.

Even as he was held in the chains of slavery, in Megatron's clutches; every so often, he'd catch his reflection in the dark, evil machinery surrounding him…and perhaps, in irony's twisted sense of humor, a reflection of his own personal sin. Even despite the circumstances, one look at that streak, and all the memories would come flooding back; memories he tried so hard to forget, and ones that he should've told his daughter so long ago. Ones that, had she known earlier, might've been able to save both of them, or at least prevent the mess HE created. But he didn't, and now he was finally paying for it.

And it was then he finally and fully realized why the streak bothered him so much. It wasn't just a reminder of the wrong he caused…it was a symbol. The symbol of the living lie he had become…and to his child of all people.

He then vowed that, should he live to see Sari one more time, he would finally set things right.

And when one small scratch was enough to rip the curtains off the living enigma that was a little girl, Professor Sumdac, for the first time, sighed with relief. He knew she would be upset. He knew she would be angry. She had every right to be, and he deserved the verbal beating he knew was coming. But he was still relieved.

Because in the end…he would finally prove himself honest.

_"Sari…we need to talk."_

**A short piece on Professor Sumdac from Transformers: Animated. So many things were revealed in the "Transwarped" special, I can't watch Sari and her dad in the first two seasons the same way again...especially knowing where that white streak in his hair REALLY came from, and not from old age.**

**Thinking about that then made me wonder if it ever bothered him-how that streak could remind him every day that he's been lying to his daughter her whole life. And thus, we have this short piece here.**


End file.
